Loneliness, Like Chronic Stress, Taxes the Immune System

Loneliness, Like Chronic Stress, Taxes the Immune System

New research links loneliness to a number of dysfunctional immune responses, suggesting that being lonely has the potential to harm overall health. Researchers, who will present the findings at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology annual meeting in New Orleans, found that people who were more lonely showed signs of elevated latent herpes virus reactivation and produced more inflammation-related proteins in response to acute stress than did people who felt more socially connected.

These proteins signal the presence of inflammation, and chronic inflammation is linked to numerous conditions, including coronary heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, arthritis and Alzheimer’s disease, as well as the frailty and functional decline that can accompany aging.